George Stoneman

George Stoneman Jr. (8 August 1822-5 September 1894) was a Union Army Major-General during the American Civil War and Governor of California from 10 January 1883 to 8 January 1887 (succeeding George Clement Perkins and preceding Washington Bartlett).

Biography
George Stoneman Jr. was born in Busti, New York in 1922, and he graduated from West Point in 1846; he was Stonewall Jackson's roommate at school. He went on to serve in the US Army dragoons in the American West and California, fighting in the Yuma War and serving in Texas from 1855 to 1861. At the start of the American Civil War, Confederate general David E. Twiggs forced Stoneman to surrender Fort Brown, Texas to the Confederacy, and he and most of his command then escaped to the north. He became chief of the Army of the Potomac's cavalry under George B. McClellan, but Joseph Hooker relieved him after the Battle of Chancellorsville, deflecting the blame to Stoneman's unproductive raid on the Confederate army before the battle. In 1864, he was given command of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Ohio, and he was captured for three months during the Atlanta Campaign. In 1865, he raided into Virginia and North Carolina, and he nearly captured Jefferson Davis during his flight from Richmond. After the war, he became controversial for not interceding in the Memphis riots. He opposed Reconstruction and joined the Democratic Party, proving to be a moderate administrator in Petersburg, although he did suppress white riots in Memphis in 1866. He was mustered out on 1 September 1866, reverting to the regular rank of colonel. He was sent to command the First Military District in Arizona, but he was relieved in June 1871 due to his controversial handling of Native American uprisings. He retired in 1882 upon reaching the retirement age of 64, and he served as Governor of California from 1883 to 1887. He was financially broken when his opponents burned down his house, and he died in Buffalo, New York in 1894.